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Kalief Lyons, 35, of Galloway Township, was sentenced on Tuesday, May 28 to 10 years in prison on a gun charge, the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office said in a news release. His sentence was given more than two weeks after he was arrested in the separate shooting death of 38-year-old Baseem Taliaferro of Galloway.
Lyons was originally charged after he was identified as the suspect who pulled a gun on another man on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022. Galloway police discovered the gun with an illegal high-capacity magazine in a vehicle Lyons was previously inside later that day.
The gun had 13 hollow-point bullets and one round in the chamber. Lyons was found with 75 wax folds of suspected heroin and five small suspected crack cocaine rocks.
Lyons pleaded guilty to second-degree certain persons not to possess firearms on Tuesday, Mar. 5. He was released to home detention without a monitoring bracelet to await sentencing.
About two months later, Pleasantville police responded to an alert of several shots fired at 9 West Pleasant Avenue at around 11:02 p.m. on Thursday, May 9. Officers found Taliaferro inside a first-floor apartment with a gunshot wound to his chest and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
A witness told police they saw a fight between Lyons and several other people near the apartment about 20 minutes before the shooting. Lyons left the area but surveillance video showed him walking to the back of the apartment while wearing a ski mask.
Investigators said Lyons was seen walking away from the shooting scene about two minutes later without wearing the mask. Galloway police arrested him about two-and-a-half hours after the shooting on Friday, May 10.
Lyons was found with a 9mm gun, a "large quantity" of drugs, and wearing the same clothes he was seen in on the surveillance video. Crime scene evidence confirmed the gun Lyons had matched the one used to kill Taliaferro.
Lyons was charged with murder and several weapons offenses. He'll be sent to state prison during the pending case in Taliaferro's death.
As part of his sentence in the November 2022 case, Lyons must serve at least five years in prison before he's eligible for parole. Matthew Lynch, 33, of Galloway, was also scheduled for sentencing in that case on Tuesday, July 9.
Anyone with information about Taliaferro's killing should call the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office at 609-909-7666. You can also send an anonymous tip online at ACPO.tips.
You can also call the Crime Stoppers of Atlantic County at 609-652-1234 or 1-800-658-8477 (TIPS).
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